With the majority of nursing home residents now vaccinated, families are naturally asking 'When can we visit?' Though CMS has not updated requirements since September, vaccinations now put nursing homes in a better position to meet them. 

CMS Requirements for Visitation

[With the exception of compassionate care visitation]

• No COVID-19 cases in last two weeks
• No outbreak testing currently underway
• COVID-19 county positivity rate less than 10 percent
• Adherence to the core principles of COVID-19 infection prevention (printable PDF)

CMS further stipulated:

• Visitors adhere to core principles with staff monitoring
• Visitors are limited per resident and by facility size with recommendations:
  • Scheduled
  • Maximum must not exceed 20% facility residents
• Visitor movement is limited and kept to designated spaces, with outdoor preferred

States Reopening This Week

These recommendations reconsidered, we've seen states like Delaware, Ohio, Michigan, New York and Tennessee opening nursing homes this week. Delaware's policies seemed carefully thought out and perhaps offer a good starting point for others.

New York also added the requirement of testing within 72-hours of visit for those in counties with a 5-10% positivity rate. CMS also encourages testing in this scenario, as well as among those who visit as often as weekly.

Pressures from AARP

AARP joins families in pressing for visitation decisions from nursing homes, asking facilities to provide clear, advanced guidance to loved ones. Further, they ask virtual visits to be made a priority. 

Resources to Assist Nursing Homes with Visitation

Understanding your plates remain full, we've collected the following resources as quick reference or help.

• CMS County Positivity Rate Reports
• Core Principles of COVID-19 Infection Prevention [Shareable Flyer]
• Core Principle #1-4 Flyers: Screening | Hand Hygiene | Mask Dos/Donts | Social Distancing

The news this week is good. Various sources are reporting drastic declines in nursing home cases of COVID-19. The New York Times reports, "From late December to early February, new cases among nursing home residents fell by more than 80 percent, nearly double the rate of improvement in the general population." This decline syncs with the arrival and prioritization of vaccines for nursing homes. 

According to February 8-21 responses to NIC's Skilled Nursing COVID-19 Tracker, the majority of residents and staff have taken the COVID-19 vaccines. 

• Dose #1 received by 84% of residents and 59% of staff
• Dose #2 received by 76% of residents and 55% of staff 

Some staff are still reluctant, but NIC's survey also provides data on the top nine tactics nursing homes are using to achieve vaccination acceptance among residents and staff. 

AHCA and LeadingAge, with the help of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have committed to the nationwide goal of getting 75 percent of approximately 1.5 million nursing home staff vaccinated by June 30, 2021. So, expect more vaccine success tips to assist with this effort.

Meanwhile, senior care inches back toward a more normal mode of operation. Operators are finding time to focus on what is now promising to be an even more competitive market and we're here to help. Our March 4 webinar will offer leading experts discussing post-pandemic repositioning strategies.

In addition to expert advice from Health Dimensions Group (HDG) CEO/Principal, Erin Shvetzoff Hennessey (MA, NHA, CPG), we'll talk about how multi-facility operators like HDG are using our primeVIEW decision dashboard to their strategic advantage.

Until then, keep up the great work out there and celebrate this wave of good news on the COVID-19 front. As always, thank you for your many months of tireless care across senior care communities. 

The February 12 Washington Post article 'I work in a nursing home. Here’s why my colleagues are skipping the vaccine,' provided great context around why staff still seem unsure about getting vaccinated. Below are some interesting stats and highlights it included. 

November 2020, regarding COVID-19 Vaccines

• 80% of MD/D.C. nursing home union members opted out of first offer
• 50% of Miami health system employees did not want immediately
• 15% of Miami health system employees did not want at all

Late December 2020, regarding COVID 19 vaccines

• Approximately 72% of CNAs in the National Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA) did NOT want
• 60% of Ohio nursing home staffers elected NOT to take the vaccine

Causes of uncertainty about COVID-19 vaccinations

• People of color have deep-rooted mistrust due to a history of doctors experimenting on them
• U.S. government seemed to marginalize and neglect elderly/nursing homes when COVID-19 began
• Educational materials produced only in English
• Expedited development raised doubts and questions about testing
• Questions about testing across various conditions (e.g., autoimmune conditions, food/medicine allergies, pregnancy)
• Assumptions vaccine tracking meant inserting chips into people (vs. just coding vaccine packaging).
• Confusion about the connection between RNA and DNA

Educational help

In January, CMS/CDC conducted educational sessions around these topics to help staff allay doubts and fears. If you missed it, check out our summary blog, CMS/CDC Q&A on COVID-19 Vaccination Safety. 

In December, AMDA, also known as The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care (PALTC) Medicine has released a COVID-19 vaccine education toolkit that we summarized in blog, AMDA COVID-19 Vaccine Q&A Summarized.

You might also find the flyer Answers to Your COVID-19 Vaccine Questions helpful to distribute or hang.

This week, Prime Care Technologies, senior care business intelligence and technology provider, announced the promotion of Jae Sparks to Vice President of Sales. Spark’s responsibilities will now include sales leadership, revenue acceleration across all customers, and expansion into complimentary verticals. He will continue to play a strategic role in marketing and business development.

Sparks has worked within the company for the last five years, starting as Senior Director of Business Development and establishing himself as a valuable player in recruiting and nurturing new clients.

“Jae continues to build trusting relationships with our newest clients,” said Jim Hoey, CEO. “He understands the challenges of being a long-term care provider and helps his clients realize the power of technology in solving these challenges.”

Before joining Prime Care Technologies, Sparks was the Director of Sales at electronic records (EHR) vendor SigmaCare (now MatrixCare) for two years. Prior, he served in various leadership roles with Novartis Pharmaceutical and Abbott Labs.

Said Sparks, “I’m excited to mentor a sales force that is equally motivated to serve the senior care industry with time-saving technology.” He continued, “By wrapping decision-driven data into easily accessible applications, we’re helping providers deliver the highest quality care to their senior care facilities.”

About Prime Care Technologies

Since 2003, Prime Care Technologies has provided senior care operators with integrated business intelligence and software solutions, driving proactive decision-making and the highest quality care. Based in Atlanta with 175 employees and 200+ healthcare/IT partnerships, its technology-driven solutions are installed in 6,500+ facilities. With deep multi-vendor interoperability expertise, including the integration of 70+ healthcare applications and 3,500+ EDI payers, Prime Care Technologies offers the leading data warehouse in post-acute care. Learn more at www.primecaretech.com.

Set Your New Operations Strategy

Take your community through and beyond the pandemic with expert advice from Health Dimensions Group CEO/Principal, Erin Shvetzoff Hennessey (MA, NHA, CPG). She will provide a brief overview of COVID-19's impact on senior care, the rebound predictions, and strategies to help you adapt to new realities. 

In addition to offering strategic senior care consulting, HDG manages more than 40 communities, which utilize our primeVIEW business intelligence dashboard. Our Senior Director of Customer Success, Debi Damas (RN), will offer a brief preview of primeVIEW at the end of the webinar.

Agenda

1:00 PM - INTRODUCTIONS with Debi

HDG guest speaker Erin Shvetzoff Hennessey actively advocates for aging populations, is a 2019 Argentum Senior Living Leader Under 40, and is on the LeadingAge Minnesota board of directors

1:10 PM - REPOSITIONING POST-PANDEMIC with Erin

A brief overview of COVID's impact on senior care, the rebound predictions, and strategies to help you adapt to new realities

1:40 PM - HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP with Debi

Our primeVIEW KPI dashboard brings together timely, decision-driven data to help you proactively impact census, labor, clinical and financial performance.

1:50 PM - Q&A with Attendees

Text questions to our experts using the webinar console and get the answers you need to sharpen your operational focus.

Don't let COVID fatigue get to you. This is your chance to set an operations strategy that takes your community forward to the next chapter.

Until then, be sure to check out our COVID-19 Partner Resource Library with free resources from partners like HDG. And, stay tuned for their latest blog.